Oregon was BEAUTIFUL!

I feel so blessed to report that we had a wonderful time driving along the coasts of Washington and Oregon this past weekend! I am still in shock over God's incredible creation! The steep moutains, blue skies, beautiful beaches, and cool rock formations along the coast were all simply breathtaking! I am also so thankful for my friends, Lisa and Annie (from WI), who encouraged me to go on this wonderful adventure! I can see why Washington and Oregon were always some of their favorite states to visit as a family!

Here's a "recap" from our weekend:

We left on Saturday morning and drove two hours west, to Washington's coast. We spent the next two hours driving along the southern coast of Washington, on HWY 101, otherwise known as the "Pacific Coast Scenic Byway" which runs along the entire coast from Washington to California. We drove through a town called "South Bend" which I thought was neat, because my parents were born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. Cool!

We continued on coastal HWY 101, as we crossed the bridge into Oregon. I was so excited, as it was my first time visiting Oregon! We were amazed by the gorgeous coastline we saw from that point on! Wow! Our first stop was in Cannon Beach, in northern Oregon. Movies, such as the popular 1985 "Goonies," have been flimed there because of it's spectacular beauty. We walked around the cute, little downtown area and had some lunch. It was extremely hard to find parking, as this was quite a popular place! The beach was so pretty! The big rock (in our family picture below) is called Haystack Rock, and is the "signature scenery" for Cannon Beach.

After spending a couple hours in Cannon Beach, we drove two more hours south, along the coast, to Lincoln City, OR, where we had reserved a motel for the night. As we drove, we kept seeing Tsunami warning signs! Yikes! I'm sure thankful for the two sunny days the Lord blessed us with! Even with the nice sun, the waves were still huge, and the air was very cold. I can't imagine how it must be when there is a storm....or even worse: a Tsunami!! Eek! As soon as we checked into our motel, we changed into pants and jackets (it was cold!) and headed across the street, to the beach, to take pictures (see below). Our hotel was on the D River (the shortest river in the world!) which empties into the Pacific Ocean (see below). We ate at Kyllos Seafood Restaurant (on the beach) for dinner, and were able to take in the incredible beauty of the gorgeous sunset (see below). Wow!

The next morning, we headed one more hour south, along the coast, to Depoe Bay, then Newport. Newport is about halfway down the Oregon coast. This was, by far, my favorite part of the coastal drive! The beaches along this particular part of the coast were so incredibly beautiful! I made Jeremy stop the car every few minutes so that I could take pictures. Bless his heart----he was so patient with me! We grabbed a very quick bite to eat, and then started to head east on HWY 20, through the mountains, towards Interstate 5, which would take us back to Washington. I was so sad to leave! I wanted to stay longer, but with Jeremy having to work the next day, we wanted to get back at a decent time. The twisty, winding drive through the mountains was beautiful, too.

When we got to Interstate 5, I was thinking, "Oh great. This is going to be boring compared to the coast." But I was wrong! The drive along 5 was actually really pretty too! Yay! Our original plans for Sunday afternoon were to stop in Salem (right along 5) to see Jeremy's Aunt and Uncle, as well as Jeremy's friend. But none of them were available to hang out. Bummer! Oh well! So we kept heading north, toward Portland. We took a little detour so that we could see just a bit of the city. Cool place!

We ended our wonderful weekend by spending time with our new friends, the Grines. We stopped in to see them, since they were on our way home, about an hour south of Silverdale. The guys (Travis and Jeremy) went golfing while Sarah, Sarah's mom, me, and the kids (Seth, Ava, and Jeremiah), hung out at the Grine's house, eating pizza, jumping on the trampoline, and having lots of fun. It was just so cute to see Jeremiah and Ava play together again (these were the same friends we went to the zoo/aquarium with last week). They love each other!

We got home around 10pm last night, vegged out for a while, then headed to bed. What a wonderful weekend!

Today, Jeremiah and I have enjoyed sleeping in until 11am, and taking it easy. I can't believe we only have one more week left here! We leave for WI a week from tomorrow, already! Time flies! Through it all, God is good!!!